GD-88, the new Radioddity DMR radio

[W1CY]

I got an email about the GD-88. It looks like a mix of the Anytone 878 and the BTECH 6X2 (some exclusive BTECH features are available on the GD-88 and not on the 878).

Probably a complete different chipset, but that would be cool to have the OPENGD77 firmware running there

[ok1pt]

I got an email about the GD-88. It looks like a mix of the Anytone 878 and the BTECH 6X2 (some exclusive BTECH features are available on the GD-88 and not on the 878).

Probably a complete different chipset, but that would be cool to have the OPENGD77 firmware running there

Hi!
I looked at it and it looks really promising! It seems to be a "handified" Anytone's AT-D578UV with most of the advanced features like Dual Standby (i.e. it has two separate receivers), Cross-band repeat and especially Single Frequency Repeat (SFR) on DMR, which is really very valuable for the HAM operation, because in some countries it's illegal to operate a classical duplex repeater without a special license individually obtained for it and it also requires to pay a regular fee for the operation, while SFR is free of all these limitations and can be used in many cases.
To support all these functions, OpenGD77 would have to grow substantially, or otherwise it would be really unlucky to cut all these nice features off - I'm a big fan of OpenGD77, but I wouldn't use it for this radio in the current state of the software.

[rgchristy]

I contacted them regarding the ability to RX between 480 MHz and 512 MHz, and they said no. Whether that means no; never or no; not right off the bat, I'm not sure. I can't remember if the GD-77 had band expansion when it first came out, but it has it now.

[DO3HB]

Probably never. As you can see here, the device is only specified up to 480 MHz:
https://fccid.io/VO6DR-880UV

[VK3KYY]

If Radioddity (TYT) have done what Baofeng did with the DM1801, then they replaced all chips in the radio so that everything is sourced from Chinese designed and manufactured parts. This includes the CPU.

Chinese chips in the GD77 were a major problem, becuase its not possible to get data sheets.

So if this new radio has been resdesigned like the DM1801, it would be practically impossible to support it because of undocumented hardware

Additionally, people don't seem to remember that all these radios have crypo locked firmware, and the only reason the OpenGD77 firmware could be installed onto these radio's is because the Chinese developers used old / weak encryption which could eventually be broken.

Every new generation of radios has stronger crypo locking of the firmware, which can make it impossible to install non-authorised firmware.

[rgchristy]

Probably never. As you can see here, the device is only specified up to 480 MHz:
https://fccid.io/VO6DR-880UV

Thanks for the info.
If I have the correct FCC ID, the GD-77 was only specified up to 470 MHz
https://fccid.io/2AN62-GD77

It also looks like the Anytone AT878UV is the same
https://fccid.io/T4KD878UV

So, it really comes down to if the firmware can be hacked/unlocked as Roger mentioned above. We're way above my pay grade on this one.

Take care,
Rich

[VK3KYY]

I went to the Radioddity website and also used Google Search and could not find the GD-88 model from Radioddity's website.

https://www.radioddity.com/products/rad ... 51e2&_ss=r

[W5RAH]

It looks to be along the same lines as the Kydera DM880UV. Their DB-25G mobile is also derived for the similar Kydera product. I have one of the DB-25G radios and it seems to work fine as long as you use the third party CPS.

[VK3KYY]

It looks to be along the same lines as the Kydera DM880UV. Their DB-25G mobile is also derived for the similar Kydera product. I have one of the DB-25G radios and it seems to work fine as long as you use the third party CPS.

Radioddity don't make their own radio hardware.

The radios branded as Radioddity, as just re-badged radios from other companies.

The GD-77 is actually a TYT MD-760.

The only differnce is that sometimes Radioddity pay for firmware customisations, and in the case of the GD-77 they commissioned a new CPS. i.e If you look at the TYT CPS e.g. for the MD380 or MD9600 it looks similar but is actually a complete re-write in C# whereas the TYT CPS's are written in C++ (using Microsoft Foundation Classes)

Although this looks a nice radio, I think they are missing a trick by it being DMR only. From what I've heard the new Connect Systems radios support, or will support D-STAR and other modes as well as DMR, albeit I think there is an additional free for each extra mode that is supported, becuase of the licensing costs.

Really, all these radios need to be switching to being SDR so they can be true multi mode e.g. including AM for Air Band and also SSB etc

But looking at the frequency range it looks identical to all the other radios which use the AT1846S FM only, TRx chip.

My guess is its got 2 x AT1846S TRx chips hence why it can do true dual standby.

Or if its like the new DM-1801 it may use 2 complete radio RF + CPU modules

[kt4lh]

2. Cross band repeat including D to A, A to D, and A to A mode. The only other radio that has this is the Anytone D578, but it's a mobile (and it can even do D to D). Definitely unique for an HT.

Cross band repeat is uncommon, but not unique, on this HT. However it is the only HT I've seen so far that does so and is DMR.

I've said for a few years that I'll only replace the 878 with a DMR radio that's dual receive, I really miss that feature (not missing a call when the radio is busy with the other VFO).

I am not going to jump in feet first on this one though, I'll let it bake a bit, see what Anytone does if they actually have one, do you have information that this is actually an Anytone radio? Or is it a TYT that a few people are OEM'ing?